Ashiyuki (fl.1813 - 1833 )
Ashiyuki Gigado was a woodblock print artist active in Osaka during the first half of 19th century. Early in his career, he also used the go (artist name) “Nagakuni.” A pupil of Ashikuni, Ashiyuki focused on Kabuki stars and scenes in his vivid prints and was considered innovative in his use of technique. He was one of the first artists both to use color blocks without outlines, to use gofun, made from powdered shell, to embellish snow, and to work in the chuban and horizontal oban formats. His work can be found in the permanent collections of major museums worldwide, such as the British Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Japanese Woodblock Prints (1800 - 1868)
By the 19th century, Japanese woodblock prints achieved extraordinary popularity. While the shogunate issued a battery of censorship reforms throughout the 1800s, artists ignored and evaded restrictions with images of indulgent beauties and vibrant kabuki actors. As constraints tightened in the 1840s, bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) became earthier in prints by Eizan and Eisen, while kabuki actors persevered in the work of Kunisada (aka Toyokuni III). During this period, ukiyo-e artists also added landscapes, warriors, ghosts and scenes of everyday life to their oeuvre. Artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige indulged a national wanderlust through Meisho-e or “famous place pictures,” while Kuniyoshi championed musha-e, a genre of warrior and legendary pictures.
